History of Skid Row. Skid Row, at the end of what was once the railroad line, has been around since the late 1800s when transient men who had come to the West looking for work would live in its cheap hotels. Then came the bars and the brothels. Through the Depression and two world wars, Skid Row evolved as the place to bring together those who needed help-alcoholics, addicts, and the mentally ill-and the social-service providers who could give it to them. But after more than 100 years, it has become a containment zone for some of society's most desperate and a magnet for those who prey on them. "While the best of intentions may have been used in centralizing services in Skid Row, they have produced the worst possible solution," says Tom Gilmore, a developer and a former commissioner of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. "Years of flawed policies have enabled Skid Row to become the most obscene environment for the homeless in America."

Skid Row is also a haven for prostitutes, drug addicts, and a rich assortment of criminals. One fifth of the city's narcotics arrests were made on Skid Row in 2005. And Los Angeles jails release 1,600 prisoners a month directly into downtown. There are thousands of parolees, including hundreds of registered sex offenders, living on "the Row," which is also a breeding ground for infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis. And because of the availability of so many services, hospitals frequently dump indigent patients there. Similarly, cities all over Los Angeles County, now the homeless capital of the nation with 90,000 transients, point their street people in the direction of Skid Row.

Skid Row has the highest concentration of violent crime on the West Coast. On any given night there are hundred and even thousands of makeshift cardboard shelter and tents lining the streets. Drugs are so prevalent in this area one can often see people smoking crack or shooting heroin as casually and openly as someone smoking a cigarette in other areas.

Skid Row is place of hopelessness, depression, violence, prostitution, drugs, gangs, mental illness, darkness and despair. People of all ages and circumstance find themselves in this terrible place. Many have simply lost jobs and couldn’t afford rent, others are in bondage to addiction and others just have no other place to go.

What a perfect place for a mission and a church! What could be a better place to shine the light of Jesus then in the midst of such a dark and dismal place?

Please watch the following videos for a first hand look at life on Skid Row.

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